Why not take action instead of speeches, Mr PM?

In the wake of protests against the brutal gangrape and assault on a paramedical student in Delhi, the response of the political class remained far from effective in dealing with the situation.

Sociologist Dipankar Gupta, terming the speech of the PM as a 'robotic speech', said, "This is not the time to make speeches."

According to him, the government should have listened to the demands of the students and the protestors and made time-bound commitments.

The protests had people from all walks of life. A large part of the movement comprised young students. AFP

"The government should have said that on such and such day we will reduce the security guards of the politicians to provide security to the common people. Politicians charged with rape will be thrown out of the government," Gupta said.

These are some of the immediate measures that the government should have taken apart from long term measures like improving the abysmally low conviction rate in case of rape cases as well as providing public transport that is safe.

Gupta also said that the violence that was unleashed on the students by the police was extremely unfortunate and the police should not be excused for it. "The police started the violence," he said.

According to Gupta, the language used by the Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar was uncalled for in a democracy. Kumar had said that injured students and broken cameras were 'collateral damage' when the police needed to crack down on the 'lumpen' elements in the protests.

"Collateral damage is the language of the army. That is not the language of the police," Gupta said.